1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation image capturing system and a radiation image capturing method for capturing radiation image information of a subject with an image capturing apparatus, a controller for controlling an image capturing apparatus according to an image capturing order including image capturing conditions, and a program executed in a controller for controlling an image capturing apparatus according to an image capturing order.
2. Description of the Related Art
Certain medical organizations, such as hospitals and the like, incorporate a radiation image capturing system combined with a RIS (Radiology Information System). According to such a radiation image capturing system, in order to acquire desired radiation image information of a patient, a doctor sets patient information, including the name, gender, age, etc., of the patient, and image capturing conditions, including an image capturing apparatus to be used, the number of radiation images to be captured, and exposure conditions for determining a dosage level of radiation to be applied to a body region to be imaged. The doctor then supplies such information items as an image capturing order to a console, which is installed in a radiological department. The radiological technician who handles the image capturing apparatus operates the console, and controls the image capturing apparatus according to the supplied image capturing order, in order to acquire radiation image information of the patient. After the acquired radiation image information has been processed, the radiation image information is supplied to a viewer, which displays radiation images to be interpreted by the doctor for diagnosis.
For capturing a radiation image of the patient, the radiological technician positions a region of the body to be imaged with respect to the image capturing apparatus, according to the image capturing conditions set by the image capturing order, and then turns on an exposure switch of the image capturing apparatus in order to capture the radiation image. Radiation image information representing the captured radiation image is displayed on the console.
The image capturing order, which is prepared by the doctor, may not necessarily be capable of performing an appropriate image capturing process at all times. For example, if the image capturing apparatus specified by the doctor is already in use, or cannot be used due to a failure, then the radiological technician is required to change to another image capturing apparatus, having functions equivalent to those of the specified image capturing apparatus, in order to capture the desired radiation images. A certain body region to be imaged may be too large, and thus has to be divided into a plurality of segments that must be imaged separately. In such a case, the number of radiation images set in the image capturing order differs from the actual number of radiation images to be captured. Furthermore, if the image capturing order prepared by the doctor contains an obvious mistake therein, then the image capturing order has to be corrected. Moreover, depending on the settings of the image capturing apparatus, or for the convenience of the radiological technician, the image capturing process may be made more efficient if the supplied image capturing order is changed to a different order or sequence of radiation images.
As described above, at the site where radiation image information actually is captured, the radiation images may not necessarily be captured according to the image capturing order from the doctor. However, if the radiological technician prepares a report on the captured radiation images that deviates from the supplied image capturing process, then the doctor could possibly judge that the report resulted from an inappropriate image capturing process. Normally, if the radiological technician wants to alter the image capturing order received from the doctor, the radiological technician must first make a request to the doctor in advance in order to correct the image capturing order, or prepare a report on the captured radiation images together with comments, which indicate that the image capturing order has been changed, after the image capturing process is performed.
According to the system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-166908, if a radiological technician changes the sequence of radiation images indicated by the image capturing order from the doctor, and captures radiation images according to a different changed sequence, then after the image capturing process is performed, the system sorts the captured radiation images into the sequence indicated by the image capturing order from the doctor, and subsequently prepares a report on the captured radiation images. However, the report prepared in the disclosed system does not reflect the actual image capturing details, such as a changed image capturing apparatus, a changed number of captured radiation images, etc.